freelance

How the Cost of Raising a Child has Changed Over Time

Published

3 months ago

September 18, 2024

Despite countless challenging times and occasional moments of helplessness due to the various temptations that life puts us in front of, raising a family and taking care of the little ones is truly the most beautiful responsibility that a human being could ever have. The costs and financial resources needed for a decent life have always varied depending on the time in which the families lived and the circumstances of looking after the youngest ones.

Today, this whole concept differs in numerous ways from the former perception that prevailed because the standards were modified and new times brought new challenges and things to worry about. Aspects for which former middle-class families didn’t have to set aside a single cent today are understood as the highest paid ones – and all that for the benefit of the kids.

Therefore, the question arises – how much has the way of financing the family and their needs changed in recent decades? Do people care more about the material well being of their children now, or is it just the surface that hides other issues not related to finances? What’s different now and have the expenditures increased or decreased with the years of the new millennium that are behind us?

We’ll emphasize a thing that is somewhat obvious. In order to draw the right conclusion, a certain type of comparative analysis which indicates a concrete increase or decrease in the cost of living of families with children needs to be performed. You may already have some assumptions of your own – if that’s the case, then let’s check how much they agree with the results of our research.

Table of Contents

Food

As far as this field is concerned, you may be surprised by the fact that the situation here isn’t so drastically different. In the 1960s, groceries were more than twice as expensive as the ones we buy today, including the situation caused by inflation and crises. The balance was made by homemade food produced within the household, but the maintenance of animals and the provision of crops also brought additional costs. Annually, the family of four used to spend nearly $50,000.

Basic necessities such as milk and bread are less expensive today than those bought by our ancestors – of course, when they didn’t make them themselves. Although in recent years we can notice much lower prices, adjusted to an average standard, one can’t escape the fact that many foods that weren’t popular then have entered the game and are now consumed on a daily basis. This includes fast food, fizzy drinks, or snacks which all together costs about $43,000 a year.

Child care and day care

You probably know that kindergartens haven’t really existed since time immemorial. In the middle of the last century, education used to start in the first grade of primary school – before that, the child was mostly kept in the family circle. Wealthy individuals were able to afford help at home even then, so their maids, in addition to cooking and cleaning, also took care of the kids and played with them at a low price or in exchange for accommodation. Middle-class families couldn’t boast of that kind of luxury, but mothers, as well as other family members, were in charge of spending time with the kids and raising them.

Why mostly mothers? Once upon a time, while feminism hadn’t taken root yet and while men were still the primary breadwinners in the house, the only job of women, in addition to maintaining the household, was training their children on the right path and looking after them. Therefore, the costs in terms of helping to care for the youngest almost didn’t exist.

If we look at today’s situation, we’ll notice that the situation has changed drastically and that the average figure that a couple of parents cash out for child care is barely less than $20,000, and in the case of special conditions, even more. Wow, what a difference, right? The mothers-housewives are getting replaced by professional and trained nannies and teenagers who earn pocket money in this way. Take into consideration $500 a week – it’s the salary of the average nanny when she works full-time. Multiply that by the number of weeks in the year – are you dizzy too?

Kindergartens have flourished in the meantime, but that hasn’t really affected the parents’ wallets so positively. Due to the lack of time and business obligations, they often pay extra for the services of additional daycare even outside regular working hours, which represents another solid cost.

Schools and universities

Did you know that the average American family spends almost $38,000 a year on children’s education? The amount of cash given wasn’t nearly as much a few decades ago – the maximal expense of this nature was $5,000. Why such a gap?

If you look around, you’ll realize that private schools and universities are everywhere. Tuition fees are rather huge, but many students still opt for them because of certain benefits. Due to the financial situation, public schools and universities were often the only choices for kids, and even then the money used to go in favour of additional education at home and the purchase of study books. Private institution’s attendance was a luxury at the time, and only children of wealthy parents could afford it.

However, when we talk about this sphere, we can’t neglect innumerable additional activities that children enroll in nowadays. Whether it’s sports, art, summer camps, or similar activities, each and every one of them requires a certain amount of financial resources. Here lies the answer to the question of why the above-mentioned amount increased as much as ten times. Also, attractive programs such as Loved.com, focused on implementing investments in children’s future, have some quite good and appealing points that shouldn’t be missed.

Healthcare

In the 1980s the prices of medical expenses and healthcare began to rise drastically, which was justified by the implementation of various health insurance policies. Families began to get acquainted with this phenomenon and many of them decided to give it a go. The figure now was three times higher than it used to be at that time – around $8,000.

Of course, this is closely related to medical advances, new machines and devices, and more progressive treatment methods. Therefore, insurance policies require even more money today. Single labor costs nearly $11,000, with the exception of a cesarean section for which parents have to add $7,000 more. So, the process of giving birth to a child is already so much more expensive – can you then imagine the gap between treatment now and earlier? Since many families today are able to afford insurance, they always choose this option because of the benefits, hoping that their children will need it as little as possible, but still keep it close to them as a precaution.

House necessities, meals, literacy… All these things tend to be much more costly today, and this analysis has shown that in a simple and comprehensive way. Who knows what tomorrow brings and what awaits us – but in the end, every period in history has its own statistics. What doesn’t change is a huge number of kids waiting to be born and raised in diverse conditions, therefore we should do our best to use the current conditions in their favour – and in ours, as well.

Up Next

Follow These Tips To Turn Your YouTube Channel Into A Full-Time Job

Don't Miss

Instagram Profile Viewer, Explorer and Downloader

Click to comment

Business

Benefits Of Hiring A SEO Agency

Published

3 months ago

September 30, 2024

Lori Rama

What is search engine optimization (SEO)? SEO is a process of affecting the online visibility of a website or a web page in a web search engines unpaid results, often referred to as natural results. In other words, Search engine optimization is a way to structure keywords of your website so that when people search for something using certain terms you increase the likelihood of your website being among the top search results. Search engine optimization is most often associated with the Google search engine since that is the most used search engine in the world. So when a search engine optimization agency wants to make a website pop out on the most top page, it has to understand at least the basic algorithm that the people of Google are using.

Table of Contents

SEO As Marketing Strategy

The SEO process:

In order for Google to recognize your website as a top priority, you have to play by its rules. Google has a list of over 200 web page requirements that you have to follow when you are developing a website. All successful websites have followed all of the given rules and guidelines, and all of those that have the ambition to be successful should at least seriously consider it.
Consider the competition. A good SEO agency will consider your competitors on the internet marketplace. First, they will establish who they are and what strategies they are already using, they will gather all the relevant data, and then they will try to develop a strategy that will put you in a one-up position against your competition. A prime example of doing this effectively is Search engine optimization agencies in Glasgow Scotland.
On-site. It’s not enough to develop a good strategy externally, but you need to structure your website in an optimal way. A good agency will consider mobile responsiveness that helps users to have a greater mobile experience visiting your page than they would with some competitor. Other important things to consider are ease of navigation and websites meta information. Another vital point to have in mind is your backlinking portfolio. With the latest software, you can use the backlinks that will point to your website more efficiently.
Tracking often and reporting results. Since the 21^st century is the new dawn of computers, internet connection and an era of general capitalist fueled fast pace progress, nobody can guarantee you that even if you make use of a Search engine optimization agency that you won’t be one-offed by your competition. So better pick a company that can follow the latest trends and tracks the progress of your website, company, and competition at the same time, a hard task for some but not for the best.

All The Benefits

Search engine optimization targets quality traffic

Traditional methods of advertising like cold calls, interruptive ads, and spam emails are made with consideration of the advertiser’s needs since he is the one hiring, but that does not mean the best commercial for the potential buyer. Inbound marketing focuses on making helpful information and creating helpful resources.

SEO improves your PR strategy

The combination of the two is called link building. The goal is the earn links from reputable websites that will make you even more connection and increase the recognition of your enterprise.

You will one-up the competition

In today’s online environment it is almost unimaginable to even survive without search engine optimization. An average SEO agency will maintain and maybe slightly improve your website, but a great one will put you way beyond your competition. Again the best has proven to be Scottish SEO agencies.

You don’t need additional adds if you are using SEO

When Google recognizes that your website is top list search engine worthy, you can only go up from there since Google has got your back and you can’t do much more than that.

Summary

Not using an SEO agency in this stage of the internet revolution is like riding a horse instead of flying a plane to travel. So start using SEO and TAKE OFF!

Business

Things Never To Do To Increase Your Business Sales

Published

3 months ago

September 30, 2024

Lori Rama

In general, increasing business sales is rarely easy. Really it is very hard to get a fair price at a time of poor economy. Business owners have more chance of getting frustrated and therefore increasing business sales becomes a tough process. When you are frustrated, you are having a lot of common mistakes during increasing your business sales. Here, you can find out some important things that you should never do during increasing business sales.

Table of Contents

Things Never To Do To Increase Your Business Sales:

Have to look at below to find the common mistakes to avoid at the time boosting your business sales:

Not setting any goals

When you have no goals, then sure you will never have any chance of increasing your business sales. Before getting into the action, you have to know what you are required to achieve. You have to clearly write your business goals. By doing so, you can come up with various innovative ideas and courses of action to achieve your goals very easily. In case you fail to do, sure you will be directionless and could not proceed further. When there is no goal, sure there won’t be any ambition for you to lead into success.

Not having a target audience

In case you have no target audience, then surely it is not possible to increase your business sales in the most effective manner. Even though you have the perfect digital marketing strategy, not having the target audience will cause you no effective results. You must find your audience first and have to come up with the most extraordinary marketing campaigns. Therefore in order to increase your business sales, it is effectively important to have a target audience on your side.

Not listening to the audience

After recognizing your target audience, then it is a must to listen to them. If you are not listening to your audience, then sure you could struggle to boost your business sales. Usually, the audience is mainly needed to get their feedback regularly. If you fail to get their feedback, then sure you will never know what you are doing in your business. You can get many feedbacks from their social media. People will ask for things and voice their opinions. When you fail to listen to them, sure you will lose them quickly.

Too much promotion

Doing more promotion about your business sales can lead to several issues. Hence this is one of the important things which you never do to increase your business sales. Usually, a normal promotion can lead your business sales into success. But too much of promotion can be made people get a bad impression about it. Therefore it is better to avoid doing more promotions.

Not making quality content

The quality of the content is very much important. When you are not having proper content, sure it will never lead to boost your business sales. Whatever your post may be, it should not be a content sake one. It must be very impressive and have the potential to attract an audience. In case you create junk content, sure no one shows interest in your sales. It makes them annoying and you will get a bad impression very quickly. It creates a lack of reliability and trustworthiness in your business.

Not active in social media

Social media is one of the important tools which everyone is considering to increase their business sales. In case you have no account in any social media and not active in it can cause you more issues at the time of boosting business sales. Your business sales can reach the global audience when you are active in it. When you fail, sure no one knows about your business and you have more chances of losing various things during your sales.

Not understanding SEO

SEO plays a major role in increasing your business sales. Suppose you have no idea of understanding the principles of search engine optimization, then sure you will never have an effective digital marketing campaign. Some of the business owners have only less knowledge about it, still, it is not enough to gain better business sales.

Having more aggressiveness

Politeness is very much important at the time of handling your customers during business sales. In case you are too aggressive to them, sure you will end up with a lot of disadvantages. You will have more chance of losing loyal customers. Sure you also never able to boost your business sales most effectively. To avoid such common mistakes, it is better to let customers know you are very polite and can answer any type of questions. Also, let them make an effective decision by peacefully browsing.

Not showing confidence

When you are not showing any confidence in business sales is a negative factor for you. if you have more confidence in your business sales, then sure you can let your customer know about everything in detail. You must have a clear clarity about what you are doing. Therefore increase your confidence in everything and achieve a lot. When you have less confidence with more digital marketing strategies, sure you could not boost your business sales.

Being too judgmental

Being too judgmental can make you lose many potential customers. As a better salesperson, you must treat everyone equally. By judging someone wrongly make them not to get what they deserve. It is better to analyze them thoroughly and give them what they deserve. Therefore being judgmental can never let you increase the business sales.

Conclusion:

From the above mentioned scenario, you can find out the 10 things never to do to increase your business sales. Therefore focus on such mistakes for avoiding them during selling your business.

freelance

Are Contest Marketing Campaigns Effective Branding Tool?

Published

3 months ago

September 30, 2024

Lori Rama

Contests, polls, and sweepstakes are some of the most commonly used promotional tools by modern age businesses. As most of the buyers these days prefer making purchase decisions online, contests help to capture their attention towards a specific niche. The contest basically represents some sort of competition where participants need to get online award votes in bulk amount to win the battle. They can also motivate their friends and family members to receive a higher number of votes to win.

Contest marketing campaigns offer an unlimited number of benefits. Depending upon your goals and the type of niche you wish to promote, you can lock several advantages out of these campaigns. This is the main reason why many big brands even prefer to buy online award votes to achieve the desired impression. Below we have listed a few details about why contest marketing campaigns can turn out to be the most effective branding tools for your business:

Table of Contents

Promotional benefits

The main reason to opt for contest marketing is attracting the attention of the buyers towards your brand. The retailers may launch contests with some handsome prize ideas to give participants a feel-good moment. It is also a trusted way to lead word of mouth advertising. The business owners can also promote their contests on multiple platforms to get enhanced engagement. The experienced business professionals even prefer to buy real contest votes to beat the competitive forces around. This is the most trusted way to generate web-based promotions among the target audience.

Research benefits

Contests also provide great advantages from a research point of view. When people take part in contests, you can collect their contact information, name, and geographical details with ease. This information can be further used to promote your new products and service. When customers like the winning rewards on your contest page, they are likely to fill out forms in favor of your business. They may also buy votes online to win the battle against other competitors. It will automatically enhance engagement on your contest page.

When we compare contests with other marketing tools, they appear more cost-effective and reliable solutions. Depending upon the type of audience you are serving online, contests can provide you amazing returns. It is also possible to take help from experts to buy online votes for your contests. You can plan your strategy carefully with a unique theme selection. Make sure the idea of the contest appears relevant and interesting to your target audience. Moreover, you need to use some trusted tactics to capture their attention towards your campaign. Promoting contests on multiple platforms can be one of the most trusted ideas.

You can start with photo contests, polls, or video contests. When you are ready with the theme, it is good to choose handsome prizes for the winners. Now you can create rules for the contest and start promotion on multiple platforms. It is also possible to buy votes in bulk amount to achieve a great reputation in the competitive market.

If you are a business owner, there are several benefits of running a photo contest on social media. However, beginners need to stay aware to avoid several pitfalls as well. You will be happy to hear that there are plenty of photo contest softwares that you can access to organize your campaign. Even if you are a beginner in this field, these contests can help you create great returns in the long run. Many big brands even prefer to buy online award votes to build a solid brand reputation online.

Brand awareness matters a lot for every business and social media is the best solution to achieve this goal. You can start with buy votes from onlinecontestvotes.com for contests and polls to promote your start-up online and it will soon help you become a recognized brand in the business industry. Experienced business professionals prefer using the emotional connection of social media contests to create a subconscious association with the audience. It helps them to win over the interests and preferences of the end buyers. If your photo contest theme is creative enough, you can easily get online award votes in a bulk amount.

Those who are interested to run photo contests for business promotion are advised to go through the details below. Here we have listed a few important steps to help you run successful campaigns online:

Step 1: Identify your contest campaign goals

The first most thing you need to do is identify the goals of your social media photo contest. There can be a long list of targets that you wish to achieve; it may be to increase brand awareness, build a library, bolster your community, launch a product, uncover a new market, reengage existing customers or create brand ambassadors as well. No matter what is the prime goal of your photo contests, you can buy real contest votes to achieve your target.

Step 2: Focus on your brand

When you are ready to launch a photo contest online, you have to be more careful about aligning these campaigns with your brand. The theme should not deviate the audience from what you are selling in the market. Whether you are providing some educational services via the contest or need to make people aware of your new product; the theme of the contest must be selected very carefully. You can even buy online votes to build a solid brand impression. Other than this, it should be connected to the natural world, create a toast for the season, keep your audience in the spotlight, and engage with the current moment.

Step 3: Select a useful prize

It is not always about presenting some expensive reward to the contest winner. The main idea is to keep it relevant to your business. It can be a new product at your business platform that could further help to boost your buyers count. Contests are a great way to introduce people to your products and services. The contest winners can also work as your brand ambassadors and they will soon send more traffic to your platform. You can even buy votes online to build a solid brand impression.